Lashing Out
by DaughterNature
Summary: Elena receives a mysterious letter from an even more mysterious sender... will it help her to finally make her decision and choose between the Salvatore brothers!


**Disclaimer:**

I own nothing!

At least nothing remotely related to the awesome show "The Vampire Diaries"... it's sad, but it's true.

It's all Julie and Kevin! I love you guys for creating such an incredible show!

Oh... and I do not own the books either... haven't even read them!

**A/N:**

Reviews are greatly appreciated! ;-)

"What are you doing?" Damon asked.

Elena turned to face him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, this trip and you kissing me. What the hell is this?"

She took a deep breath. "Stefan thinks that I have feelings for you."

Damon let that sink in. He always hoped she'd develop feelings for him, but he hadn't expected that to actually happen. "Do you?" he hesitantly asked.

"I- I don't – I don't know."

Of course she didn't know... why would she make a decision. Both brothers loved her. If she chose one, the other would be devastated. But he was done being held at arms length. He wanted her to choose. He needed her to choose. When she had kissed him earlier – and let's face it, that had been one hell of a kiss... not an _'I'm not sure about my feelings for you'_ kiss – he had hoped he'd actually stand a chance. But now... back to the story... He was angry and disappointed. "Hm. I guess you thought this little trip could help you figure that out, didn't you?"

"No..."

Damon's anger boiled over. She wouldn't play with his feelings any longer. „Or maybe you were hoping I'd screw it up, so I could just make the decision for you, am I wrong?" he accused her.

"Damon…"

"Am I wrong?"

Elena didn't know what to do. She knew she hurt Damon by kissing him like that and rejecting him afterwards... again. There were these two awesome brothers. Both of them madly in love with her. _'Lucky me, huh?'_ But she didn't know who to choose or even how to choose. They were complete opposites. Stefan was a safe harbor. He was calm, serious, broody sometimes. He'd never hurt her feelings and he'd never do anything she didn't want him to do. Damon was passionate, he knew how to enjoy life. His love was consuming and he'd always do what's best for her. If she agreed with it or not, even if it meant she'd hate him for doing it afterwards. But he also used to mess things up when something didn't turn out the way he had planned. Like he had snapped Kol's neck when he had found out Elena and Stefan had went behind his back to get Elena to talk to Esther alone.

"It's what you do, Damon. You sabotage things, you… I mean, think about it, every time there's a bump in the road, you lash out."

"What if I didn't? What if there was no bump?" he tried to convince her. He could see she was considering it, but he also saw the hesitation in her eyes, the uncertainty on her face.

Elena didn't answer. She couldn't. What was she supposed to say? She hoped she could rely on his words, that she could rely on him. She surely trusted him, but hadn't he messed things up almost every time now? He looked at her with his piercing blue eyes. His expression shifted from hope, to despair, to resignation, to anger. She couldn't really blame him for being angry, but what showed in every expression was also hurt. And that really was killing her. She had never intended to hurt him. And yet she had, several times. And she was terribly sorry for every single one. Finally, the mix of hurt and anger exploded, his eyes cold, his features hard…

"I'm sorry Elena… but this time, I'm not gonna make it so easy for you. This time you'll have to figure it out for yourself." And with that he walked past her and headed for the door of Scary Mary's creepy house.

"Damon wait…" she turned around. He didn't, but at least he stopped.

"Look, I'm sorry I kissed you earlier, I…"

"Wow, now you're sorry you kissed me… well that's a first. I never heard a woman complain about my kissing so far…!" he hissed sarcastically but at least turned around to face her again. Elena didn't believe it would be possible, but he looked even more hurt. She had done it – again.

"No, that came out wrong… That kiss was… I never felt like that in my entire life Damon. And it scares me, you know? I don't know what I feel for you, but I do know that these feelings are so intense, that they scare the hell out of me. Even admitting their existence is scary….. But with everything that has happened between Stefan and me, I just don't wanna open my heart again so soon, I'm scared I'll end up alone in the end just like last time… Plus, I didn't even figure out my feelings for Stefan yet..." tears were streaming down her face, but she didn't realize it.

"But I'm NOT Stefan…" Damon simply stated. He had to use all his strength to stay where he was. Every cell of his body wanted to run over to her, to comfort her… he couldn't stand seeing her cry. But he had to stay strong, he couldn't give in. He said he wouldn't make it so easy for her this time and he had to go through with it! He wanted her to admit her feelings and make her decision because she wanted it. Not because he forced her to or because he made the decision for her. He had to show her that she could rely on him. That he wouldn't lash out every time something didn't go the way he wanted it to go. That he could be persistent, reliable.

"I know you're not Stefan. But you killed Jeremy once because you were upset. You snapped Kol's neck in public because you were upset. I can't walk around you on eggshells the whole time because I have to be afraid you'll hurt or kill someone because I upset you."

She had a point on that one. He was so emotional when it came to her, he sometimes couldn't quite control himself. But he knew, if she'd finally commit to him, he wouldn't have much reason to go wild like that. Those last times had had lost it, it had been because Elena had rejected him. It had been hurting so much, he hd had to find an outlet for his emotions.

"Fair enough…" he said, turned around again and headed outside.

On their way back to Mystic Falls, Damon and Elena remained silent. Jeremy sat in the back of the car and seemed to be absentminded from time to time.

Damon drove Elena and Jeremy home and helped carrying their stuff inside.

"Thank you Damon…" Elena said when they were finished. "For helping me bring Jeremy back and… for everything…"

"Sure…" Damon just nodded and got into the car to drive off.

Elena headed back inside and went upstairs to unpack her things. When she was almost done, Jeremy knocked at her door. He looked concerned about something. He considered coming in or not, Elena could see the hesitation on his face. Why would he hesitate to come in? Other times she wished he wouldn't enter her room so naturally.

"Hey Jeremy, come in. Everything okay? You look worried…" she took the last stack of still fresh sweaters out of her suitcase and put it on top of her dresser. Then she sat down on her bed and Jeremy sat beside her.

Elena could see that he was still struggling with something. "Hey Jer… what's wrong? Come on, you can tell me…"

He took a deep breath. "I… when we were in Denver I told you Rose said something about you and Damon…"

"Yeah, but you never told me what she had said… what was it Jeremy?"

After taking another breath and looking Elena in the eyes for what felt like hours he finally told her. "She said she was rooting for you and Damon…!"

Elena was dumbfounded… she hadn't been expecting anything like that. But she couldn't help but like Rose's statement. She didn't know what to respond to that, so Jeremy spoke again.

"When we were driving home, I saw her in the car. She told me not to tell you guys that she was there. She said that she knew I didn't like whatever was going on between the two of you, but that I was too young to see what she saw. She told me that Damon changed you – that he challenged you, made you question your life. That Stefan would always be good for you and that Damon would either be the best, or the worst thing for you. I think she would rather go for 'best' though…" Jeremy smirked.

Elena had to let that sink in… "She really said that?" she asked.

"Do you think I would make something like that up?" Jeremy smiled lightly at his sister. He could see that her brain was working really hard right now.

"She… um… she asked me to do something for her…." he said after sitting in silence for a few minutes, letting Elena try to grasp everything he had just told her. "Here…" Jeremy said and gave her a neatly folded sheet of paper.

"What is this?"

"It's a letter… from Rose."

"What? How could she give it to you?"

"She didn't exactly give it to me… I had to write it for her…!" it seemed like he wasn't all too pleased he had had to do it, but he looked at Elena with warm eyes she couldn't quite read at that moment. She'd never seen him looking at her like this. But she also couldn't think about it right now. All she could think about was what Rose wanted to tell her so badly, that she asked Jeremy to write a letter in her name.

"I'll leave you alone now…" Jeremy got up and walked towards the door. "I think you'd rather be alone when you read it." He smiled at his sister. "Good night Elena…!"

"Night Jeremy…" Elena said absentminded, still fiddling with the piece of paper in her hands.

She couldn't wait to read it and discover what Rose had to say, but at the same time she was scared. Why was she scared? After what she had told Jeremy on their ride home, was there any reason to be scared? Maybe it was **because** of what Rose had said… the rooting for her and Damon, that Damon would either be the worst thing for her or the best… Her feelings were bubbling up beneath the surface again. The feelings for Stefan, that were still very strong. The feeling of indecisiveness when it came to making a choice between the two brothers and those strong feelings for Damon, which scared her so much that she didn't want to discover them any further but at the same time wanted to explore them so badly.

She shifted to the headboard of her bed and made herself comfortable. Then she started to unfold the paper. Her hands were shaking slightly, her heart was beating fast.

"_Dear Elena, _

_you must be wondering why I asked Jeremy to write this letter. Just have a little more patience, you're gonna figure it out soon. _

_First of all, I wanted to tell you, that I always liked you very much and that I appreciated you being there for me when I was dying. I couldn't have asked for more and I don't think many humans would've done something like that for a vampire. You are a really special girl!"_

Elena had to swallow after these first sentences and tears welled up in her eyes. She liked Rose too and for her it was a given to be there for her when she was dying. She didn't make any differences between humans and vampires. If she liked someone it didn't matter to her if that person was human, vampire, werewolf, witch or some other supernatural creature. She liked them for **who** they were, not for **what** they were.

"_Well, let's get to the point of this letter, shall we? I know you're having a hard time figuring out which Salvatore is the right one for you. I don't want to talk you into a decision for one or the other, but maybe I can give you something to think about, a glimpse of something you haven't been able to see in the past. Maybe you can see it in the future, so just listen to what I have to say and take your time to think about it and figure out what it means to you. _

_First of all, I don't think I have to tell you anything about Stefan. You know he loves you, you know he'll always be good for you. You know who he really is and you've seen him at his worst, so you can put two and two together that this letter will basically be about Damon. _

_As you know, Damon loves to be seen as the ultimate badguy. You and I both know he isn't. He's kind, caring, passionate, vulnerable. I'm not telling you any news here. _

_But he's pretty good at hiding something from almost everybody. I didn't see it when I was alive, I think only Stefan knows this site of his brother. So, prepare to be surprised: Damon is the most selfless guy I could ever imagine. This may sound pretty odd to you as you've only seen him flip the switch and do something stupid, reckless or seemingly selfish. But actually, it's been the opposite most of the time. Well, to be honest it **has** been stupid and reckless mostly… but he hasn't been selfish at all!"_

Elena had to smile unintentionally. She didn't know what Rose wanted to tell her so far, but she liked the way it was going. She had always wanted to catch a glimpse of Damon's real feelings, peek behind his walls, and it seemed like she could catch that glimpse through Rose's eyes by what she was telling her in this letter.

"_Let me tell you a few stories about him, but please promise to me and more importantly to yourself, that you won't be mad at him for what he did. Everything he did was to protect others, mostly you or Stefan. _

_You know Damon loves you. He told you a few weeks ago after you first met Esther. You have accused him of being mad at you because you had included Stefan in your plan and he answered that he was mad because he loved you. Well, that wasn't the first time he told you that. Remember when Trevor and I kidnapped you and wanted to hand you over to Elijah? Elijah had thrown your necklace away so that he could compel you to tell him where he could find the moonstone. When Damon and Stefan came to your rescue, Damon found the necklace. He paid you a visit that night to give it back to you."_

Elena remembered that. She had been wondering how she had gotten her necklace back when she had woken up the next morning. . She couldn't remember finding it the day before.

"_He told you back then that he loved you. But he knew he couldn't be selfish with you, he thought he didn't deserve your love and he didn't want to cause any more trouble concerning your relationship with Stefan. So after he had told you he loved you, he compelled you - heavy-hearted might I add - to forget it again. It broke his heart, but he had to get it off his chest. At the same time he knew that he couldn't allow you to remember."_

Tears stung in her eyes when she read those lines. Partly because she was mad at him for compelling her and partly because she truly felt sorry for him! She knew it must have hurt like hell...!

_"When I was on my deathbed, he gave me that wonderful dream so that I didn't have to fear death anymore. If that alone wouldn't have been the most wonderful thing to do, he wanted to spare me any more pain and drove a stake through my heart. He was devastated for weeks after that. _

_And when he killed Abby Bennet - you know he did that to save your life by the way - it should have been Stefan in the first place. They had flipped a coin and he had lost. But Damon knew Stefan was already carrying more than enough guilt after everything he had done to you. He feared his brother could lose control again if the guilt would become unbearable. So Damon sacrificed himself, knowing you'd probably hate him afterwards. He figured he'd be better at being the bad guy anyways, because that's what most people see when it comes to Damon. _

_Do you remember when he helped Stefan gaining control over his bloodlust? Damon knew, if Stefan succeeded and learned to control himself again, the two of you would most likely find a way back to each other. But he accepted it because the most important thing in this situation was to help and save his brother. So if saving him meant to be "the other man" again, he'd live with that. _

_I could go on and on and on with countless similar situations. Like I said - I don't want to talk you into choosing Damon. I just thought it would be important for you to know these things before you make your decision. _

_And even if Damon cared deeply for me - and has, god knows, seduced countless other women - you should know his heart has always belonged to you. I just gained access go a tiny fraction of it and let me tell you one thing... This tiny part of his heart made me fall for him immediately. Truth be told… I couldn't imagine what it must be like to be granted not only a share of it, but the whole...! _

_You see, I'm Team Damon in this one, but it is your decision. You have to make it and you have to live with the consequences. I just wanted you to see Damon for who he really is, not for who he pretends to be. _

_I wish you all the best Elena! I hope you'll have a long healthy life and I hope you'll find your true love and enjoy every second of all of it! I know both brothers will be there for you whenever you need them! Maybe it'll take some time after you chose one of them, but when needed, you can count on both! _

_Be safe Elena! _

_Best wishes, Rose"_

Elena read the letter over and over again. At first, silent tears were streaming down her face, but they dried eventually. She didn't know what to think about this. Her brain was working really hard trying to grasp everything Rose had written in her letter. She tried to remember the situations Damon hadn't compelled her to forget (he would have to do some serious explaining about this later) and see what Rose had seen. But she couldn't… Damon hid it very well from her. From everyone apparently. Only Stefan had been catching glimpses of it.

Stefan…. She had to call him. When she had finally found her phone she dialed his number. "Stefan? Hey, it's me… could you please come over? I have to talk to you! It's important!" She hung up without waiting for his answer. Of course he would come over. He always did….

While she waited for Stefan to arrive she reread the letter at least another ten times, still trying to fully understand Rose's words and Damon's actions. How could she not have seen it one single time? Even the slightest bit? She'd always thought there was a special connection between them…

Finally she heard the front door open. "Elena?" Stefan called from downstairs.

"I'm in my room…"

He almost stormed into Elena's room, scanning her with worried eyes. "Hey… everything okay with you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she answered and walked toward him. "But I have to talk to you. Can you promise to be honest with me? It's very important, I know I have to make a decision soon and I don't want to make it based on false information." she looked deep into his eyes, seeing worry, insecurity, a little bit of hope, fear…

"I promise…!"

"First, I wanna tell you about Denver…" she started.

He cut her off immediately. He didn't want to hear any of this. It didn't matter in the end. If she chose him, he'd be glad he gets a second chance, even after everything he had done to her. He wouldn't ask any questions. If she chose Damon, it wouldn't matter at all what had happened in Denver or anywhere else for that matter. "No… please, Elena… you don't have to tell me…!"

"Yes, I have to! It's important for me that you know everything. Please let me tell you…"

As he didn't say anything she continued.

"You thought that I had feelings for Damon and I was always denying it. Well, I can't deny it anymore. You were right…"

Stefan looked defeated in that moment. His eyes darkened the slightest bit, but she saw it. She knew he was hurt and she also knew he was jealous. He had always feared that one day, Damon's efforts would be successful. That one day, he'd win her heart. And it seemed like that day had arrived.

"I have feelings for him. When we were in this motel in Denver, I couldn't deny it anymore and we kissed." she paused for a second. Stefan's features didn't change.

"But I couldn't quite figure these feelings out and we got into a fight." when she thought about their fight, her eyes got watery again. But she composed herself quickly and continued.

"We didn't talk on our way back to Mystic Falls. When Damon had dropped us off we went upstairs to unpack our things. After about half an hour Jeremy came to me and gave me this…" she handed Rose's letter over to Stefan.

"What's this?" he asked unsure what to do with the slightly crumpled sheet of paper.

"It's a letter from Rose. She asked Jeremy to write it because she wanted to tell me some things."

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"I want you to read it. I want you to tell me if it's true."

A bad feeling was building up in his stomach. He started to unfold the paper and read it.

While Stefan was reading the letter Elena was pacing up and down in her room. She was nervous. She examined the shifting of his features carefully. In the beginning his expression was worried, nervous… Suddenly it changed. He looked at this poor piece of paper with such anger and jealousy that Elena was waiting for it to burst into flames any second. He must have read the paragraph about Damon's first declaration of love. She was already assuming he hadn't known that.

His features shifted again, they showed shame and guilt. That must've been the paragraphs about Abby Bennett's "_death" _and his bloodlust_._

When he was finished reading the letter he looked at Elena. His face was emotionless, almost completely empty.

"Is it true?" Elena finally asked.

"Is WHAT true?"

"All of it… start with the first paragraph, end with the last." she demanded.

"Well…" he took a deep breath and started flying through the paragraphs again. "The first thing she told you, you'll have to discuss with Damon." His jaw clenched.

Elena knew what he was referring to and let it go. She just waited for him to continue.

"I know he cared about Rose and I know he hit rock bottom after he had killed her. I don't know about the dream though." he furrowed his brow.

"I do… it's true. He told us when Jeremy tried to contact her," she confirmed Rose's statement, eyes still on Stefan's face.

"What Rose said about Damon helping me is true. In the beginning I hated him for that. I didn't want his help and I didn't want to feed on humans. But he was right, I had to learn to control the bloodlust, because otherwise it would have controlled me forever."

"And the last paragraph? About Abby?" she asked hesitantly.

He took a deep breath… "Yes, that's also true. I lost the coin toss and it should've been me who killed Abby," he admitted.

"Why did you never tell me that?"

"I… I don't know…" he looked at her. She looked half disappointed, half pissed.

"You knew I was really mad at Damon... You should have told me!" Oh yes, she was pissed.

"What was I supposed to do Elena? I was still trying to regain your trust..."

"And you really thought you could regain it by keeping things from me? Besides, at that time you were still pretending not to care!"

"Because I was too afraid to let myself feel again! I hated myself for what I had done to you, for what I had put you through!" he yelled at her.

"But what kind of basis for a relationship is this, Stefan? You can't expect me to trust you again and choose you over Damon, if you're not fully honest with me! Why didn't you tell me?" she urged.

"I already told you..."

She finally stopped her pacing and walked towards him. She looked him deep into his eyes. He was nervous.

"I know you Stefan. I know when you are lying. Tell me the truth! Why did you keep it from me?"

He held her stare. He knew she'd most certainly hate him afterwards, but she was right... How were they supposed to start over, if he couldn't be honest with her?

"I was glad Damon offered to do it anyways! You and I were finally getting along again, I didn't want to ruin it. I knew you couldn't be mad at Damon for too long. You've never been angry at him for more than a week!"

Elena looked at him in disbelief... "I never thought you'd take advantage of Damon's addiction to self-destruction like this! I..." she threw her hands up and turned around to start pacing again.

"Elena... I didn't mean to take advantage of anything! I just didn't think it would even matter..."

"You didn't think it would matter? All of it matters Stefan! Every decision you make, every decision Damon makes… Everything I decide... It all matters! How am I supposed to choose one of you if I don't know everything about you? At some point I finally figured I had feelings for both of you and I had to discover who I love more, so of course it matters...!" she was ranting while still pacing up and down.

"Love?" Stefan whispered.

"What?" she didn't understand what he'd said. Her mind was too occupied flipping through every memory she had about those last months or even the last year.

"Love... You said you had to discover who you **loved** more... Which means you love both of us... You love Damon...!"

Elena stopped her pacing by the second and looked at him in shock. Her natural reaction was to deny it, but her rapidly working mind didn't go for natural right now. She didn't know anything anymore. This letter and Stefan's confession changed everything! Had she really said that? And if she had, did she mean it? Did she really love Damon? Because her mind was still too busy to work right, her heart decided to help out.

"I did!" She suddenly declared. "I do...! I love Damon...!" She sat down on her bed. It was the first time she had ever admitted it. Even to herself she had always been in denial about it. She was shocked at first but when the shock slowly vanished, she felt relieved. It felt like a huge weight had been taken off her chest. She started to smile unintentionally and some kind of glow surrounded her whole presence. Of course Stefan noticed it...

"And you love him more..." he stated and sounded defeated. He knew he had lost her. Once she had admitted her love for Damon, her decision had been made. Stefan's heart shattered into pieces, but he had to accept her decision. It would take some time, but he would manage it somehow.

After all, he knew his brother deserved to be happy, to be in love and being loved in return more than anyone else!

He walked over to Elena, caressed her face with both hands and placed a feathery kiss on her forehead. And with that, he was gone.

She was so trapped in her own thoughts, she didn't even notice he wasn't with her anymore. When she awoke from her daydream it was way past midnight.

Elena dialed his number with shaky fingers. It rang about a hundred times but he didn't answer his phone. Without hesitation she grabbed her keys, sped down the stairs, yanked the front door open and drove off to the Salvatore mansion as fast as she could without losing control over her car.

She entered the house without ringing the bell or knocking. She was yelling Damon's name again and again while already heading upstairs.

"Damon, damn it! Where are you?" she shouted and the next second she ran into the half-naked man she was looking for, crashing against his strong chest and almost falling down the stairs again.

"What are you doing here?" he eyed her suspiciously. His flawless body only covered with an unbuttoned black shirt and a dark blue jeans that clung way too low to his hips.

Since when did seeing him like that distract her so much? She couldn't avert her gaze from his chiseled chest. It wasn't the first time he was walking around the house like that. But this time was different. She felt physically attracted to him in a way she had never experienced before. She couldn't get out one straight sentence.

"I... I wanted... I have to..." she stumbled while her eyes were wandering from his chest, to the waistband of his jeans and up to his beautiful lips. She wanted nothing more than to crash her own lips against his and dive into a love-filled kiss. But she finally managed to compose herself again and looked into his deep blue eyes.

He was confused by her behavior. Why was she acting so weird? It was quite funny actually. He saw a lot of women lose it like that when he approached them half-naked, but Elena made it perfectly clear earlier that night that she wasn't interested in any kind of "more-than-platonic" relationship with him.

"Elena, is anybody home?" he asked, waving with his hand and snapping with his fingers. "What do you want?"

"You!" she blurted out and instantly covered her mouth with both hands... _Oops__!_

He squinted his eyes not sure where that was coming from and what it was supposed to mean.

"That came out a little bit unexpected..." she said more to herself.

"Stop playing games Elena... I'm tired of this..." Damon said while turning around and walking towards his room.

She followed him... "I'm not, Damon! Not anymore! I figured it out, I made my decision!"

Damon gulped the last sip of Bourbon and put the empty glass on his bedside table. "And you expect me to believe that you changed your mind and made your decision during the last three hours when it took you - I don't know - two years to finally admit you have feelings for me at all! So what did magically open your eyes?" he asked sarcastically.

"Rose..." she said and earned a surprised and confused look from Damon. "Here, read this..." she gave him the letter. "It's a letter from Rose."

He took the paper, unfolded it and started reading...

"Don't be mad at her..." Elena quickly added and examined the shifting of his features. His expression got more angry by every paragraph, his jaw clenched and from time to time a low growl escaped his throat.

When he was finished he handed the letter back to Elena.

"Rose!" he finally growled. "Rose, I know you are here! Have I told you lately that I hate you? Always hated you? You've be a pain in the ass ever since!" he snapped.

Elena smiled lightly. Suddenly her phone rang. "Jeremy, everything ok? Yeah, sure... wait a sec. You're on speakerphone now..."

"Rose says that you're lying and that she loves being a pain in your ass if it helps you to finally get the girl!" he told them and hung up again.

Damon couldn't help but smirk, even though he was truly angry at her. "I really hate you!" he said more to himself. He turned to face Elena. "So what? Reading this piece of crap has suddenly changed your mind?"

"It's not a piece of crap, Damon!"

"You don't even know if what's in it is true...!"

"I..." Elena didn't know whether to tell him or not that she had asked Stefan about it. He certainly wouldn't take that very well. But she had to... She had told Stefan earlier she couldn't be with anyone who couldn't be honest with her, so she had to be honest, too. "I asked Stefan if it was true..."

„You did what?" Oh yeah, he didn't take it well...! „So the first thing after you have supposedly chosen me was to call my baby brother to ask him if this was true?"

„No... after reading this I had to ask Stefan a few questions. I couldn't believe that he wouldn't tell me these things. Well, I couldn't believe I never noticed them in the first place, but I thought he would at least have told me that he had lost the coin toss and you killed Abby anyways. It never crossed my mind he could take advantage of you taking the blame."

„It doesn't matter though, Elena. I never asked him to tell you. It wasn't about you."

„Yes it mattered! It matters! I can't be in a relationship with someone who can't be honest with me..." she walked towards him and slightly grabbed the hem of his shirt. „You've always been completely honest with me Damon. Even if you knew I wouldn't like the truth, you told me anyways because you knew I'd hate it even more, if you lied to me." she told him and looked right into his soul.

He couldn't stand it though. He just couldn't believe she had made her decision. And he couldn't believe she was choosing him over Stefan. He broke eye contact and walked a few steps away from her.

„What are you saying?" he said hesitantly.

„I'm saying, that I have chosen you, Damon! Is this so hard for you to believe? Isn't that what you wanted me to realize for so long? That you are the right guy for me?"

„Yes, it is hard to believe!" he blurted out! „I've never been anyone's first choice! I've always been second best! And what if you chicken out again like when we were at Mary's last night?" he started pacing through his room.

She blocked his way and caressed his face with her hands. „I won't, I promise! And you better get used to it, because YOU are MY first choice, Damon. I have already told Stefan, my decision stands...!"

He was searching her eyes for any sign of uncertainty, for any sign of hesitation or fear. But she seemed determined. Her eyes only showed... love. Love for him? Did it finally happen?

„Can you say it?" he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers.

She smiled and looked at him, studying his beautiful face. Yes, that was it! She finally felt whole again. Since her parents had died, one part of her heart had always been missing. Stefan had replaced the better part of it for a while, but he could never make her feel complete. She beamed at him... „I love you Damon Salvatore!" she said before kissing him.

The kiss they shared was nothing either one of them had ever experienced before. It was so full of love, it was undeniable that Elena had made her decision and truly loved him with all her heart.

„I love you, too...!" he murmured in between kisses while maneuvering their entangled bodies towards his bed.


End file.
